


Coat of Arms

by PrincessFreak



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Cactus Cat, Desert, Extended Metaphors, Faulkner Inspired, Gen, Kinda, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Surreal, Written for a Class, cryptid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21542380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessFreak/pseuds/PrincessFreak
Summary: Teo is left alone in the desert and is dying of thirst. Lucky for him, he comes across a Cactus Cat.





	Coat of Arms

I collapse once on top of the red sand hill, laying in the sun and letting my skin burn in the desert heat. It doesn’t matter if I get blisters or if my skin is permanently scarred. I’m so tired, and though the sun feels like a blowdryer, I don't dare get up. I wasn’t expecting to feel this thirsty so soon. I want to eat the roots of the bushes because maybe they know the secret of retrieving water, but when I tried earlier all I got was a mouth full of sand and a nose full of musky plant. The sky is swirling above my head, and I imagine, when this is all over, I can tell Azzy about it, and he could find an artsy way of painting it. Like a Van Gogh painting, but better suited for Arizona. Swirling shades of warm colors to heat a house during winter. 

I wonder when the vultures will arrive. I bet they can eat me up. Maybe, if I live through their attack, I can use their spit like lotion. It’s a disgusting thought, but if it’s to survive, I’d even resort to using their blood. The sun is turning the sky as red as the sand, and I don’t know if I’ve been here for five minutes or five hours. Time runs differently when you don’t have a clock to keep track of it.

I hear muted footprints and pick my head up in time to see a fast slash across a cactus. For a moment, all I can do is stare at the source; A green bobcat with a branched out tail, long dagger-like spikes on its arms, pokey bordered ears, and narrow yellow eyes. I’m sure I’m hallucinating, but I don’t really care. All I want to think about is the translucent milk dripping down its arms and out the wound of the cactus. I lean up on my elbows. Water water water-- 

The cat hisses at me, and I remember I’m dealing with something mythological. Is it mythology? What is it? I’ve heard of it before, I’m sure of it. Or maybe I’m delusional and contorting the image of a cactus. Or bobcat. Everything seems like an illusion.

It stalks towards me, but I’m not afraid of a vision. It’s neck tilts from side to side, making a series of cracking noises like possessed victims from horror movies. It’s long claws are still coated in cactus juice, and it’s shoulder blades roll back like hills. Is it covered in pricks? I think it’s got pricks on it. If it poked me, would it be like ant bites, or are the pricks poisonous? Is it close to me? I can’t tell. The world’s spinning and nothing seems here. Or real. Am I still at home?

It stumbles. It shakes, and some of its spines shoot out like a porcupine. Does it have fur, or is that cactus skin being moved about? Is that even possible? Is it like the crust of the Earth and the skin rests on some sort of liquid? What liquid? Is it blood? It gives one last narrowed glare at me, before strutting off, stumbling every few steps. I watch, but stop caring after about 8 steps and rush on my hands and knees to the cactus. I tilt my head and start licking the milk of the cactus, for the most part avoiding the spines, desperate to soothe my throat and to get my head to stop throbbing. I drink until my stomach feels bulged with liquid and I can’t force myself to drink more. 

I sit back down in the sand, sighing in relief. I finally think back to the Cactus Cat, now able to fully process what I had come across. I decide that I should go after it; I can learn from it. I stand up and follow its footprints. It only takes me a few seconds to catch up to it. It didn’t seem to move far with it’s stumbling steps. It looks around as though lost, and seems to choose its next path at random.

As I follow it, I learn how it survives in the desert. It slashes through cacti, making it bleed out liquid, then drinks only a few sips of it before stumbling forward. It seems like such a waste, but I imagine if I had claws like that and could get water as much as I wanted, I’d do the same. But I don’t have the same luxury, so I drink some of the liquid here or there. Some of it is light and smooth like water. Some of it is harsh going down, burning my throat, and I understand now why the Cactus Cat stumbles. 

I watch it attack a snake. The Cactus Cat picks it up, and the snake tries to bite it, but the Cactus Cat doesn’t flinch. He’s immune to the venom. Though I’m not one to pray, I plead to shining Perseus in the sky that I too can become immune. Hopefully enough to fight against even Medusa.

As the night tumbles on, I get dizzier and dizzier from all the cactus milk. I think of snakes and Medusa, milk and bleeding slashes. I eat scorpions and follow shallow footprints in red sand. The Cactus Cat is moving faster, I think he has a destination in mind.

We meet up in a circle with the other Cactus Cats. They slash every cactus in their path, letting the milk drip freely. They drink in between their howling chuckles that resonate in the air, making everything feel like a heavy metal concert. They pounce on each other, bite playfully at ears. One is cleaning itself like a housecat, but it’s saliva drips a bit down its arm, and I feel it’s just managing to get itself covered in sticky cactus juice and spit. Some of them slide down the sides of the cactus, colorful blood leaks out, they sop it up.

_The blood leaks out steadily and drips down my hand onto my pants. It’s fine, they’re my darkest pair._

_“Calm down Azzy, you're panicking.”_

_He’s shrill, hysterical, and switches between reaching out to help me and immediately scrunching his eyes shut at the sight of my hand._

_“We gotta go to the hospital! We need to clean it!”_

_“It’s fine, I’ll just patch it up. We’ve got bandaids.” My words won’t help much, but I don’t like watching him so terrified._

_“BANDAIDS?! She stabbed you!”_

_“It’s just a pencil.”_

_“You need to go to the emergency room! We need to have them disinfect it! You need bandages!”_

_“Seriously, it’s alright. It’s not the worst she’s done.”_

_“She should be arrested! She’s a danger to you and everyone around her!”'_

_I pause, because I can’t argue with that._

The cats are loud, it hurts my head, makes me feel a bit woozy. It’s too much right now, but then I join their devilry anyways. My voice growls out, I didn’t know it could be so loud. I scratch at a cactus and drink its milk. The prickles hurt my lips, but they fall off after. Can lips form calluses? Do people reject cactus pricks like they can ear piercings? Has anyone ever used those long cactus pricks as earrings? Wouldn’t that be an interesting idea… I can stab myself instead, my blood will spurt like volcanoes. I’ll show her I have that power too. Her stabs are battle wounds, they give me honor.

_“Look at baby Azzy, poor thing is so scared. Do you want one too? I can make you twinsies!”_

_Azzy cowers behind me. I stand straighter and become a wall in front of him. I won’t let her touch him._

_“Stop it Dia.”_

_“Oh ho ho!" She snarks. "Look at big boy Teo. Finally showing some guts, huh? You're pathetic!"_

_I won’t let her hurt him._

_“What’re you gonna do about it, huh? You gonna punch back? You gonna defend the little baby?”_

_“C’mon let’s go.”_

_I grab his hand with my uninjured one and run. I’m faster than her, she knows it, but she still chases to mock us. I go to my room, lock the door, and push the drawers in front of it. The edges scrape the line already carved into the wall. Azzy is hyperventilating from fear. Not for himself, but for me. He worries too much._

I wonder if he’s noticed I’m missing. If anyone were to notice, it’d be him. He’s too involved in my life. He’s gonna get hurt one day. It’s better for him if he’d just leave me already. He can face the dream we’ve always imagined. He can go to college, become something. Leave Cave Creek forever, see the world a whole new way. No more shadows. He can be the greatest artist he wants to be. I’ll be here, always supporting him from the distance. He won’t see me. That’s fine, I’m not meant to be seen anyways.

The cats are dancing on their feet. They twirl in circles. I hug my arm around one. His skin scratches mine, and it feels like a scratch on a mosquito bite. Maybe this is how snakes feel when they shed skin. Are Cactus Cats related to snakes? They’re green like jungle snakes, their skin is rough like one too. Are humans related to snakes as well? My skin sheds like one. It’s too dusty and cracked, I need a new layer.

_The car comes to a smooth stop on the shoulder of the road. I look outside the open window, searching for anything. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Noth_

_“Where are we?”_

_The red sand and bushes that blur the side of the road are making my throat tense up. I know what it’s like in the sand, and all I can think about is sinking steps and exhaustion. I turn away to watch Dia for any sort of answer. I don’t care where we are anymore, but I need to know why she brought me here._

_“Well you, my dear brother, are home.” I tense up, my hands clench. She's doing it again. She’s going into one of her moods again. She's going to try to hurt me. “Now get the fuck out of my car.”_

_I need to get out. Someone will find me, I can handle the desert for awhile, I know it. I just need to leave this car. I walk backwards out, watching her the entire time, waiting for her to lash out more. The second I close the door, she speeds up her car and revs the engine as if this were a street race, but instead she’s trying to get as far away as quick as possible, leaving behind dust to mock me. I watch her car, see it drive over the heat mirages in the distance, already feeling thirsty._

A Cactus Cat catches a snake, milks its venom. He offers me its blood, and I drink. It tastes of a new start. This is where we’ll form our country.

The sun is rising, I scratch deeper into the center, creating a little C that I can crawl into. I take out the cactus’s guts and slot myself inside. Bugs are crawling inside and I eat them along the side with the cactus milk like cereal spilt on the floor. My stone face was once forced against the floor by Medusa; I did it to survive. I close my eyes and sleep past the sunshine.

I’ll never have to see the day again.

When I wake up, I step out onto the sand, my paws, still sticky from cactus, are dusted red. Red red red. I control what’s red now. I spot a rattlesnake on the floor, I narrow my eyes and pounce. I tear her head off and eat it.

Her blood splatters on my face and I growl, satisfied. Her venom can’t hurt me now.

**Author's Note:**

> You guys should actually look Cactus Cats up. They're pretty interesting. I like the art of some of them you get a very interesting vibe from it.


End file.
